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To stay up-to-date in contemporary information intensive societies it is important to be able to effectively and efficiently find, evaluate, process and present required information. In educational contexts training in these so-called information literacy competences is mainly the domain of institutional libraries. Essential to education is the long-term transfer of learning, that is the application of newly acquired competencies also outside the training environment. Research learns that this often takes place sparsely, leading to what is called a Transfer Paradox. The aim of this study is to develop a practical instrument for instructional designers to measure the influence of a set of key variables on the learner's motivation to transfer learning to the wider educational and the work context. Two hundred and thirty-four students of the Open University of the Netherlands doing an information literacy course filled out a questionnaire before entering the course. Data was analyzed using factor analyses and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Results show that the opportunity to apply new learning and sanctions from supervisors are two important factors that influence the learner's motivation to transfer learning in both the study and the work context already before the course has started.
Intention to transfer: environmental factors influencing transfer intentions in study and work
(2015)
This study tested the predictive validity of Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior with a sample of 182 non-traditional students in higher education to develop our understanding of non-traditional students’ intentions to transfer trained knowledge and skills from university courses to the workplace. After completing their courses, a survey measured behavioral, normative, and control beliefs, transfer attitudes, perceived social norms, transfer self-efficacy, and transfer intentions. One year later, a follow-up survey measured transfer of training. Partial least squares-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) revealed that behavioral beliefs were positively associated with transfer attitudes, normative beliefs were positively associated with social norms, and control beliefs were positively associated with self-efficacy. Transfer attitudes and transfer self-efficacy predicted transfer intentions. Social norms, however, were non-significantly associated with intentions. Transfer intentions and transfer self-efficacy predicted transfer 1 year after training. These findings are discussed in terms of their predictive validity of Ajzen’s theory and their educational implications for non-traditional students enrolled in higher education programs.
Rapid developments in contemporary societies not only ask for lifelong learning but increasingly also for training in generic competencies suitable for multiple contexts and life stages. An indicator of training success is the transfer or application of new learning, a longitudinal process influenced by various theory- and evidence-based factors. The present study combined a multi-contextual and longitudinal approach by investigating non-traditional distance education students’ intention to transfer newly acquired generic information literacy competencies to their study and work contexts before, directly after, and three months after training. Three surveys, using a combination of Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior and Holton et al.’s Learning Transfer System Inventory model, measured the influence of performance outcomes expectations, organizational openness to change, and performance self-efficacy on intention to transfer and transfer behaviour. The participants were 82 adult educational professionals enrolled in an online information literacy course at the Open University. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) confirmed the value of employing a multi-contextual and longitudinal approach within this specific setting. Furthermore, notably, self-efficacy appeared to predict pre-training intention in both study and work contexts and transfer behaviour in the work context. Educational implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.
This dissertation investigates the significance of adopting a multi-contextual and longitudinal approach when designing transfer-enhancing education in generic information literacy competencies. To this end, it examines the influence of theory- and evidence-based contextual variables, taken from Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (1991) and the Learning Transfer System Inventory model (Holten et al., 2000), on the intention of non-traditional students enrolled in a-synchronous online education, to transfer generic information literacy competencies to two different contexts: their study and work. Studies 1 and 2 focus on organizational variables, Study 3 on learner characteristics, and Study 4 on variables from both domains. Investigating this within a single study adds a novel multi-contextual approach to the conceptual development of transfer studies that is currently absent from the literature. To investigate the longitudinal and dynamic nature of the transfer process, multi-item self-report questionnaires were used to gather data related to the two contexts at three moments in time: before, directly after and three months after training. Studies 1, 2 and 3 focused on the understudied pre-training phase, while Study 4 examined the dynamic character of the transfer process by including all three measurement times. In all studies, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to uncover the structure underlying the relatively large set of variables. Furthermore, structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses regarding the interrelationships among the multiple interacting variables in the studies. Results indicated that these variables had a distinctive influence on the students’ transfer intentions, depending not only on the different stages of the transfer process but also on the transfer environment. This confirms the relevance of a multi-contextual and longitudinal perspective in designing education for the transfer of generic competencies. Implications for theoretical development and educational practice, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.
